Forest degradation in the ENPI Region (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Republic of Moldova, Russian Federation and Ukraine) threatens rural livelihoods, biodiversity, and ecological services. While illegal logging and poor governance are often country-specific, frequently these problems do not respect national boundaries, spilling across poorly secured borders.

The ENPI Forest Law Enforcement and Governance II (FLEG II) Program (2012-2016, 9 million EUR) builds on the first ENPI FLEG I Program to support good forest governance, sustainable forest management and forest protection in the ENPI East region. In particular, the Program supports participating countries to:

Continue the implementation of the 2005 St. Petersburg FLEG Ministerial Declaration and up-scaling of successes of the ENPI East FLEG I project.

Demonstrate the best sustainable forest management practices in targeted areas, for further replication.

In many countries, addressing poor forest governance requires, amongst other things, the behaviour change of the affected populations – it needs an increased understanding of the consequences of certain actions and the need to develop viable alternatives. In Armenia and Azerbaijan, environmental awareness and education are priority areas.

UNECE-FAO Capacity Building Workshop on Forest Products Statistics, 27-28 May in Ankara, TurkeyAs mandated by member States, UNECE and FAO, with logistical support from FAO Sub-regional office for Central Asia, organized a workshop on capacity building for forest products statistics reporting, on 27-28 May 2014 at the International Agricultural Training Centre, in Ankara, Turkey. The workshop brought together the national statistical correspondents from 11 countries from Eastern Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia to share experiences related to forest products statistical processes in their countries, namely to identify and discuss constraints in the production of forest products statistics.

It provided opportunities for national correspondents to improve their skills, which should help them to fulfil commitments under international agreements to provide reliable data and to enhance national capacities in this area through the exchange of knowledge. An expert (former national statistical correspondent) from Estonia was invited to the event to share his experience. UNECE and FAO are planning to produce a report on forest products data collection challenges in the 11 target countries based on the workshop’s proceedings in the second half of 2014.

New from FAO and PROFOR: A Guide to Forest Governance Data Collection, Analysis, and Use

FAO and PROFOR, with the support of a diverse group of NGOs and development partners, have published Assessing Forest Governance: A practical guide to data collection, analysis, and use.

Forest governance assessment is an expanding practice. Governments, civil society organizations, development partners, academics, and coalitions of stakeholders have all performed assessments in recent years. Assessments have aimed to describe the state of governance, to diagnose needs for reform, to monitor progress of programs, and to evaluate program impacts.

In 2012, an expert meeting at FAO headquarters in Rome recommended the creation of a guide to good practices in forest governance assessment and data collection. Under the guidance of a committee of practitioners, FAO and PROFOR have overseen the production of this practical manual.

The guide presents a step-by-step approach to planning a forest governance assessment, designing data collection methods and tools, collecting and analyzing data, and making the results available to decision makers and other stakeholders. Users can follow the whole guide or can consult it for help with specific tasks, such as designing indicators or processing data. It also presents five case studies to illustrate how assessments have applied the steps in practice, and it includes references and links to dozens of sources of further information.

In the field of wood science and industry there are not many prestigious journals, in Europe only few have impact factor, even less in Eastern part of Europe. From approximately 20 periodicals indexed in Web of Science just one journal from Poland managed to the Master Journal List – “Drewno” (“Wood”), a biannual published by Wood Technology Institute (www.drewno-wood.pl). Its scope covers wood science; wood mechanical and chemical technology; material engineering; material management; environmental protection, safety of the processes, products and working stations; biotechnology; bioenergy, biofuels; forestry; wood-based industries economics. “Drewno” offers authors the opportunity to be published in the indexed by Web of Science database journal, the DOI number, Open Access system and international coverage.

There are two kinds of papers that can be submitted: article and report. An article is a material presenting the results of original research of empirical, theoretical, technical or analytical nature, whereas a report is a short text presenting the results of experiments and/or fragments of ongoing research, which signals its continuation. In the reviewing aspect the Editorial Board decided that the best solution for the independent reviews is to implement the double-blind reviewing process, so neither author nor reviewer knows each other identity.

In 2014 the next issue of “Drewno” will be presenting a range of topics related to forest biomass from the Forest Biomass Conference which was held 7-9 October 2013 in Mierzęcin Palace (Pomerania region, Poland) and organized by Faculty of Forestry at the Poznań University of Life Sciences.

Planning for Brownfield Land Regeneration to Woodland and Wider Green Infrastructure

Gail Atkinson and Kieron Doick (FCPN022)

The regeneration of brownfield land to green space can deliver multiple benefits to society and the environment through improvements in the quality of a site and its surrounding landscape. This Practice Note describes the process of brownfield regeneration to woodland in order to inform project planning, raise awareness of lessons learnt from past projects, and provide guidance to practitioners so that they avoid common pitfalls. Aimed at those who plan and deliver brownfield regeneration to woodland projects, this Note supports project delivery planning and should be used by all members of the project delivery team.

FSC® General Assembly is the Forest Stewardship Council’s highest decision-making body. It will gather 500 participants from over 70 countries, representing social, economic and environmental interests from the geographical North and South. The 7th FSC General Assembly 2014 will take place in Seville, Spain, from 7 to 14 September 2014.

FSC members include some of the world’s leading environmental NGOs, businesses and social organizations, as well as forest owners and managers, processing companies and campaigners, and individuals. Together these diverse voices define best practices for forestry that addresses worldwide social and environmental issues.

Forest Stewardship Council® (FSC®) is a global, not-for-profit organization dedicated to the promotion of responsible forest management worldwide. FSC enables businesses and consumers to make informed choices about the forest products they buy, and create positive change by engaging the power of market dynamics.

FCBA, the French technology institute for forestry, cellulose, wood construction and furniture, is hosting the 5th Forest Engineering Conference (FEC) together with the 47th International Symposium on Forestry Mechanisation (FORMEC).

The conference will take place on September 23-26, 2014 in Gerardmer (France) under the general theme “Forest engineering: propelling the forest value chain”.

Inspired by successful FEC and FORMEC past editions, this major international event will grant forest researchers and practitioners one of the best opportunities to meet, and share for 3 days their experience, knowledge and emerging ideas. Two days of in-doors technical sessions will be completed with a full day of field demonstrations in the local mixed sub-mountainous forests. You’re welcome to join the international forest engineering community and the 200 people who’ve already chosen to attend the conference in September. The conference is organised in partnership with the International Union of Forest Research Organisations (IUFRO) and its Division 3 (Forest Operations Engineering and Management).

Registration is OPEN and the preliminary program is available on the conference website: www.fec2014.fcba.fr

The Ministry of Employment and the Economy is organising an international competition aimed at accelerating the commercialisation of biorefinery innovations and the emergence of new biorefineries in Finland. The competition was opened on 4 June 2014 and proposals will be accepted through 4 December 2014.

The competition aims at seeking proposals for a new-generation biorefinery to be set up in Finland. It should be a commercial scale installation, which includes new technology that is not yet in commercial use. The refinery can also be a demonstration plant, whose technology or products have significant business potential. The aim of the competition is to lead to investment planning, and to investment that takes place in Finland.

The winner of the competition will be announced in February 2015. The first prize is EUR 100,000. In addition, the Ministry of Employment and the Economy is collecting a financial group comprising public entities to coordinate and assist in the acquisition of public funding for the best three entries. Private capital will nevertheless have a leading position in the proposed projects.